Advanced Weapon Systems Research Articles

Особенности военно-технического сотрудничества России и Индии: динамика, риски и перспективы партнерства

This article analyzes the specifics of military-technical cooperation between Russia and India, as well as the dynamics, risks and prospects of the partnership in the first quarter of the twenty-first century. In their inter-state relations, the Russian Federation and the Republic of India adhere to the concept of a long-term privileged strategic partnership in the field of security and defense that dates back to the Cold War years. Despite high competition on the military equipment market and a significant increase in military-industrial capabilities in New Delhi, Moscow remains the main supplier of military products to India. The range of Russian military products is quite broad and includes a variety of weapons and equipment to meet the growing needs of India's army and navy. However, there are risks associated with the current dynamics of military-technical cooperation and the increasingly complex geopolitical situation in the region and the world. The article presents the main problems, threats and challenges to bilateral relations in the field of military-technical cooperation, which are associated with India's desire to diversify arms supplies, growth of political and economic risks caused by the sanctions policy against Russia from the collective West, changes in the intensity of geopolitical processes and increased competition from other military suppliers. In addition, prospects for future military-technical cooperation between the two countries are examined, including technological advances, opportunities related to India's Make-in-India program, and potential strategic areas of cooperation between Russian Federation and Republic of India, such as unmanned systems, cybersecurity, and joint research to develop more advanced weapons systems. The bottom line is thatproductive military-technical cooperation between Russia and India can be achieved in the future if a number of measures are taken, mostly related to eliminating risks and creating good conditions for both sides. Such measures could include expanding the boundaries of military-technical cooperation, ensuring mutually beneficial economic conditions, strengthening institutional ties, and bringing together scientific and technical experts in the field.

Военное сотрудничество США и их союзников в Северо-Восточной Азии: угрозы Тихоокеанскому флоту РФ

This article discusses the military policy and defense priorities of the USA and its allies in Northeast Asia – Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. The region is characterized by territorial disputes, such as those involving the Kuril Islands, and significant changes in military strategies and capabilities in the Post-Cold War, driven by new threats and technological advancements. The paper also examines the security architecture in the region, in particular, the strengthening of trilateral cooperation between the USA, Japan and South Korea. The primary focus is on the United States’ strategic pivot to Asia, which has led to enhanced military cooperation with Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, as well as extensive military exercises aimed at deterring potential adversaries. The study explores Japan and South Korea’s defense strategies, which include substantial increases in defense spending, acquisition of advanced weapon systems, and a shift towards more assertive military policies. Furthermore, the authors touch upon the issue of naval power and its role in shaping the geopolitical landscape of the region. Challenges faced by the Russian Federation’s Pacific Fleet are considered. The revival of Russia’s Pacific Fleet through modernization efforts, including the commissioning of modern submarines and ships, reflects Moscow’s intention to protect its maritime borders and assert its strategic interests amid growing regional tension and rivalry. The authors contemplate the consequences of the U.S.’ enhanced military presence in Northeast Asia, including the deployment of advanced missile defense systems and conducting large-scale military exercises with allies, presenting operational challenges for the Pacific Fleet, potentially limiting its maneuverability and strategic capabilities. The conclusion underscores the increasing complexity of the security environment, driven by Washington’s efforts to maintain its influence and counter perceived threats from China and Russia, which leads to an escalated risk of military confrontations in the region.

Unmanned RC Rover-Bot for Surveillance, Defense and Attack

The increasing demand for efficient and versatile robotic systems has led to the development of unmanned remote-controlled rover-bots. These advanced robotic platforms serve a crucial role in surveillance, defense, and attack operations. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of an unmanned remote-controlled rover-bot designed for versatile missions in the military and security sectors. The rover-bot integrates state-of-the-art technologies, including remote control, autonomous navigation, surveillance sensors, and offensive capabilities. The surveillance capability of the rover-bot is achieved through the integration of high- resolution cameras. These sensors enable real-time video streaming and enhanced situational awareness to the operator. The remote-control functionality allows operators to manipulate the rover-bot's movements, direction, and speed from a safe distance, reducing human exposure in hazardous environments. For defense purposes, the rover-bot is equipped with robust armour plating, providing protection against various threats. Additionally, it can detect and neutralize attacks, ensuring the safety of personnel. In offensive operations, the rover-bot is armed with advanced weapon systems, such as long-range projectiles and non-lethal munitions, enabling it to engage targets effectively. It can be operated at long range distance and can be made in to a succeed bot. To enhance the rover-bot's capabilities, enabling it to navigate complex terrains and avoid obstacles intelligently. This feature allows the rover-bot to operate in both urban and outdoor environments with minimal human intervention. The presented unmanned remote- controlled rover- bot demonstrates great potential in enhancing the effectiveness and safety of surveillance, defense, and attack operations. The integration of advanced technologies and its versatile design make it a valuable asset in military and security scenarios, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of missions while minimizing human risk.

Initial operational capability of future weapon systems and field test method using digital twin

The application of artificial-intelligence technology to weapon systems, is difficult to use in military applications for such reasons as killing or wounding problems, ethical problems, and field environment considerations; therefore, more-sophisticated techniques and development are required for testing and evaluation. There is an increasing demand for advanced weapon systems that incorporate new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, and for electrification, and a new paradigm that can confirm and verify the performance required for field operations is required. Therefore, through case studies on digital twins, a plan for field testing and initial operational capability in future weapon systems was developed. Five development directions were identified, including policies and systems, organization, establishment of infrastructure, and utilization plans, to establish a field test and initial operational capability. In addition, studies on economic ripple effects and cost-effectiveness were conducted based on application cases of digital twins in the private sector. An optimal method for users to safely verify performance by utilizing the digital twin method to overcome the difficulties of testing and evaluating weapon systems with new technologies from the time when the weapon system requirements are determined to mass production is proposed.

Evaluating civil-military relationship for effective procurement decision-making: the case of two fighter jet procurements of the Republic of Korea

ABSTRACT Overseas procurement aims not only to acquire the most high-end weapons systems, but also to enhance their technological expertise. However, the degree to which a procuring state succeeds in these dual objectives varies. Sometimes, a state acquires nearly the most advanced weapon systems in a timely manner with significant terms of technology transfer. At other times, a state’s procurement is fraught with a series of disadvantageous decisions on technology transfer, maintenance, and timeliness. From where does this variation in effectiveness emanate? This article argues that the key to explaining these variations is civil–military co-ordination. States can secure effectiveness when a civilian chief executive proactively capitalises on appointment authority and/or when proactive civil–military consultations transpire. For these causations, this article studies two major fighter jet procurement activities of the Republic of Korea (ROK), the Korea Fighter Project (KFP) and the Fighter eXperimental-I (FX-I) programme.

Military Power and Conventional Deterrence


 
 
 
 This literature review explains how strategies of deterrence and compellence relate to military power. Such an inquiry is relevant as much of the literature on military power diffusion focuses exclusively on military platforms and weapons systems. Hence, we advance a more political and strategic approach rather than a more technological approach while assessing military power. The article uses “costs” and “probability of success” to assess conventional deterrence. Although both compellence and deterrence are coercive strategies, they have different implications for the diffusion of military power, especially because of the costs associated with each one. We argue that countries should not replicate or pursue a carbon copy of all the top platforms and advanced weapons systems of a leading state to catch up or to deny the advantages of technological innovation. Hence, denial strategies are much cheaper than control strategies. Finally, denial strategies often result in a decrease in the probability of success in the battlefield of an expeditionary force offensive. The review concludes that military power should relate much more to deterrence than compellence, countering the conventional Dahl’s notion that power is the ability of “A” to cause “B” to do something that “B” otherwise would not do. In other words, military power must be seen as “A” convincing “B” not to initiate a specific action because the perceived benefits to “B” do not justify the potential costs and risks.
 
 
 

Global Analysis of Active Defense Technologies for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

The main purpose of this article is to enhance the systematicness, comprehensiveness, and profundity of the counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) theoretical system, laying a theoretical foundation for the development of C-UAS technologies and weapons, thereby further improving the ability to deal with air threats such as unmanned aerial vehicles in the future. In the discussion process, it mines information, reveals inherent laws, and thereby puts forward the concept of “active defense technology” in the C-UAS mission. Simultaneously, it carries out a comprehensive summary and systematic classification of various technologies. Then, it analyzes every technology from its main characteristics, theoretical breakthroughs, practical applications in detail and in-depth, and comprehensively compares their respective advantages and limitations. Meanwhile, it focuses on the analysis of directed energy countermeasures. Horizontally, it makes an almost complete summary of the current high-energy laser weapon on a global scale; longitudinally, it cards the actual combat cases of directed energy weapons in C-UAS missions with time as a clue. Furthermore, to better integrate with reality, it conducts an extensive market survey of 581 C-UAS systems from 282 manufacturers in 39 countries around the world based on literature and practice, making them a statistical analysis from four aspects. On this basis, it classifies and summarizes the most advanced weapon systems according to different technologies. Finally, it put forward several prominent and bottleneck problems faced in the current research from three aspects of confrontation, maturity, and law. Correspondingly, it prospects several future development directions and proposes several constructive suggestions from technology and tactic.

Conceptual design and operation testing of military movable noiseless power supplier (MNPS)

This study verifies the concept and test of the MNPS owing to the increase in advanced weapon systems used in the Korean defense field. MNPS used solar power to eliminate noise, a risk factor of the existing power supply systems, and it was designed in a size that can be mounted on a small tactical vehicle in various battlefield situations. When sunlight is used as a power supplier, in case there is no light, its use is limited; therefore, it can be used after charging through an energy storage device. In addition, it was designed considering scalability to increase the amount of electricity generated through the solar panel or increase the storage capacity. Finally, the power characteristics were analyzed through a test to determine if the output was constant, and through this, it was possible to confirm its feasibility of use for military purposes.

체계공학 기반 안티탬퍼링 프로세스

Recently, advanced weapon systems such as 3000-ton-class submarines and 4.5-generation fighters are being localized, and exports of various weapon systems are increasing significantly. Our defense science and technology level was ranked ninth in the world, and weapon system exports were ranked ninth in the world in 2020. On the other hand, cyber attacks targeting advanced weapon systems are also on the rise, so the need to protect the technologies of defense companies while protecting the technologies of weapon systems for export is growing. The Defense Industry Technology Protection Act, enacted in 2015, defines defense technology as a technology that needs protection among defense science and technology, and compels defense companies to build a defense technology protection system. However, the focus is only on the defence industry’s technology protection system, and there is no system for protecting the weapon system technology, which is being exported, and the related research is insignificant. In this paper, we studied a weapon system anti-tampering process that can be applied to the defense weapon system R&D procedure as a way to protect the defense technology of the weapon systems. The proposed method linked the anti-tampering process to the technical review meeting for each stage of systems engineering procedure. Also we defined the anti-tampering secuity grade so that the target level to be implemented, and the process of determining the anti-tampering technology based on the identification of the defense technology and the risk assessment, and also the identification procedure for applicable anti-tampering technologies.

A study on the improvement of the future branch system

This study aims to suggest an improvement plan for the army branch system considering the development trend of weapon systems through a case analysis of the vision and major weapon systems for each army branch system in R.O.K army. In the future, with the development of science and technology, hyper-connected networks based on artificial satellites would be built, and mosaic warfare, which integrates multiple domains simultaneously, and weapon systems capable of performing all-weather multifunctional battles across land, sea, and air would emerge. As a result, the common areas of the Army, Navy, and Air Force would be expanded, and the division of each army or branch itself would become ambiguous. Hence, it will be inevitable to move away from the branch operation concepts that have been operational until now to seek the concept of jointness or integration. To study this phenomenon, based on the Korean Army Vision 2050 published by the Army, the transition process of the current Army branch system and the cases of vision and major weapon systems for each branch were analyzed. The results of the analysis confirmed that although new advanced complex weapon systems are being developed for each branch, relatively little change has been made to the system. In particular, with the advent of hybrid drones and intelligent autonomous combat robots that can simultaneously perform ‘Surveillance, Reconnaissance - Decision – Strike’, it is expected that the area of expansion and mutual redundancy of combat functions will be further deepened. Therefore, in connection with the development of the weapon system, we will seek a solution to improve the Army branch system in the future and clarify the implications for the Navy and Air Force in the future.

A study on the application of RMF for weapon systems in Korea

With the advent of the Fourth Revolution, military weapon systems are also being advanced. In particular, as the proportion of software embedded in these weapon systems increases, the cyber vulnerabilities of advanced weapon systems also gradually increase. If cutting-edge weapons stop abruptly or malfunction owing to software defects or cyberattacks, they will adversely affect defense security as well as combat power and economic losses. The U.S. DoD is implementing the risk management framework (RMF) to cope with cyber vulnerabilities and threats. RMF is a risk management (RM)-based framework that classifies the cyber vulnerabilities of weapon systems based on data and evaluates them according to confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The application of RMF to the Korean military's weapon-system acquisition procedure is still in its infancy. In this study, we studied the application of the RMF to weapon acquisition processors in the U.S. DoD and suggested that measures of availability, reliability, and safety that can affect weapon performance should be managed with security, and that security systems should be applied to reliability, availability, and maintenance (RAM).

Four factors are in force pandemic joints to initiate an illicit dual use technologies transfer from Ukraine

An objective of this effort is a quick recap to assess the underpin barriers of transfer of technologies appeared in Ukraine after acquiring the Independence and those developed of today and to highlight and evaluate an impact of political, historical, mental and other factors affecting the science and as a consequence leakage of technologies abroad. Of importance is also a question if a current COVID-19 pandemic will join these factors if it initiates an illicit transfer of dual use (DU) technologies from Ukraine as it was in 1990s and how it affects an efficient and proper functioning and optimization of transfer of technologies process, and that is quite a challenge nowadays.
 Investigated problem. The process of technology transfer and specifically that one of DU as a whole is neither simple nor systematic and far from being that perfect, especially when it deals with dual-use technologies and at present reduced to a short relationship between supplier/recipient only. The experience and practice show that it is a rather complicated, multi-leveled and multi-players process which is impacted and follows several factors and conditions that determine its success and/or failure at the end.
 The main scientific results. The development of dual use technologies continues in a quagmire of conflicting interests and technology transfer export control rationales. There are historical, mental and political-military considerations where a state’s decision to develop weapon systems or related applications can be assessed not only as a function of perceived levels of threat to its security, but also as a need to respond and/or step forward to potential technological innovations; and second, the fundamental conceptual differences in appreciation among countries of the right to possess different advanced weapons systems for defensive or offensive purposes.
 The result of this endeavor makes a solid ground floor for further debates in terms of political science, export control regulations and factors affecting transfer of sensitive technologies.

Reluctant Cold Warriors: Economists and National Security, by Vladimir Kontorovich

Vladimir Kontorovich’s book sets a puzzle: why did Sovietology—here defined narrowly as the study of the Soviet economy—ignore the Soviet Union’s capacity to produce advanced weapon systems and military capacity? At first sight, his puzzle does not seem credible. Sovietology was part of the American response to the Cold War, which clearly involved an arms race and the response of the American ‘military industrial complex’. Could economists specialising in the Soviet economy miss something that was so glaringly obvious to anyone with even the most superficial grasp of geopolitics? Kontorovich proves, with meticulous bibliometric analysis of their writings, that the Sovietologists indeed paid scant attention to the military sector. He points out that the sector formed a separate economy which was unusually large and successful, amounting to a war economy in times of peace. Instead, they substituted a ‘contrived civilian’ interpretation that ‘civilianised’ sectors with military significance. They failed to...

Risk evaluation of ballistic penetration by small caliber ammunition of live-fire shoot house facilities with comparison to numerical and experimental results

The development of advanced small caliber weapon systems has resulted in rounds with more material penetration capabilities. The increased capabilities may mean that existing live-fire facilities will no longer be adequate for the training and certification of military and law enforcement personnel. Constraints on training in many live-fire shoot house facilities are already in place, with some allowing only single round impact during training. With little understanding of the probability of perforation, or failure, of existing containment systems, this study evaluates risk by studying the single round impact of small caliber ammunition against live-fire shoot house containment systems constructed from AR500 steel panels with two-inch ballistic rubber covering. An analytical and numerical study was conducted using an existing model for steel penetration developed by Alekseevskii-Tate and the EPIC finite element code. A modified form of the advancing cavity model for the ballistic resistance of the target material was used to account for the relatively unconfined material resulting from the studied impacts. These results are then compared to experimental tests conducted by Goodman for rounds of various small calibers impacting live-fire facility containment systems. Projectile and target characteristics were then modeled as continuous random variables, and Monte Carlo simulations were conducted using the validated analytical model to estimate the probability of a single round impact perforating the live-fire facility containment system. An importance sampling scheme was used to reduce the variance of the solution and provide a more accurate estimate of the probability of failure. The Alekseevskii-Tate model was found to provide accurate estimates of the depth of penetration when compared to experimental and numerical results at ordnance velocities and an estimate of the probability of failure is on the order of 1x10-5. This study provides useful tools for the analysis of existing live-fire facilities against future and existing ammunition, and for the design of new facilities. When coupled with Monte Carlo simulation techniques, a risk-based approach to certify live-fire facilities for use with any variety of small arms ammunition can be applied.

ANALYSIS OF DEVELOPMENT TRENDS OF MOBILE MORTAR SYSTEMS OF MODERN ARMIES OF THE WORLD IN COMPARISON WITH MOBILE MORTAR SYSTEMS OF DOMESTIC PRODUCTION

The article compares the tactical and technical characteristics, combat capabilities of mobile mortar systems of world‟s leading armies with the domestic development of a mobile mortar complex. The domestic defense-industrial complex in cooperation with foreign representatives have developed a new model of mobile mortar complex Bars- 8MMK in which modern technologies for combat use, complex fire for effect based on the integration of intelligence have been implemented. The mortar system is mounted on the chassis of a specialized armored vehicle Bars-8 with a mobile mortar system "ALAKRAN UKR-MMS"; on-board electronic computer provides control of the mortar system in an automated mode - from receiving a command via code calling to automatic guidance of the mortar horizontally and vertically, resumption of guidance after each shot, the issuance of commands and prompts for indicators to mortar crew members, automatic control of guidance. There is a system of automatic alignment and orientation with the accuracy of determining the coordinates of the height of its own position not more than 1-3 m, and the accuracy of determining the direction angle of the longitudinal axis of the vehicle not more than 0-03. GPS system automatically and continuously determines the current rectangular coordinates, the height of the station point and the direction angle of the vehicle axis both in motion and in a stable position, as well as outputs to external devices measured values of orientation and exact time navigation parameters. There is also meteorological system that constantly records data on weather conditions in real time and transmits them to automated fire-control system for the subsequent calculation of firing data. Integrally, the system meets modern operational and strategic requirements. It is also capable of operating under high sustainable conditions, technological in production and repair; provides resistance to the impacts of existing and prospective advanced weapons systems, including those based on new physical principles.

India's Military Procurement Programs & Economic Capacity: Compatibility & Pragmatism

In a world of Realpolitik, each state in the world always looks for increasing its power; some for the purpose of their survival and some seek to fulfill their hegemonic ambitions. Having a huge population, territory, economy, and military, the states like India usually desire to establish their hegemony; therefore, it is not surprising that India wants to achieve a Great Power status in world politics. Although India has great numbers in each area of strategic significance it lacks qualitative capacity in terms of military strength where the advanced weapon systems are the backbone of a country’s military power. In order to fill this gap, the Indian government has announced very ambitious military modernization programs and is concluding various military procurement programs around the world bearing huge costs while the big arms-exporting countries are getting involved in such ambitious military modernization programs of India. Over the past few years, it has been observed that the Indian economy has not been able to fulfill the costs of military modernization programs and the gap between the estimated costs of military procurements and the budget allocation is continuously increasing. Therefore, this study hypothesized that Indian military procurement programs and Indian economic capacity are not compatible with each other, which shall have perilous effects for the countries involved in such projects. This study provides an analysis of Indian economic growth and its comparison with the costs of India’s military procurements and finds that the stated hypothesis is correct to the extent of compatibility difference between the Indian economic capacity and military procurement cost.

Power transitions, then and now: five new structural barriers that will constrain China’s rise

This article shows that China now faces a series of what are termed “structural barriers” that will make it harder for it to rise than was the case for all past rising powers. In the first section, I define the concept “structural barrier” so we can properly identify which ones now constrain China’s ascent. In the next three sections, I briefly review the essential features of three existing structural barriers that have already been identified in the literature: (1) the magnitude of the U.S. military advantage is much bigger than the gap between the number 1 power and the number 2 power in previous eras, (2) it is now far harder—and it takes much longer—to convert economic capacity into top-end military technology than in the past because so many of today’s advanced weapons systems are extraordinarily complex, and (3) as compared to all past rising powers, China is at a relatively much lower level technologically compared to the leading state. The next two sections then, respectively, delineate two additional structural barriers of great importance that must be factored in: (1) the globalization of production in weaponry and key dual-use technologies, and (2) the onset of global demographic aging, something that constrains all of the major powers but is especially acute in China. Overall, this article reveals that the world has changed too much for the power transitions of the past to provide useful guidance regarding the nature of China’s ascent; looking at them is ultimately deceiving, not illuminating, for understanding the possible speed of its rise on the global stage. A concluding section discusses some key implications of the analysis for the security policies of China and the United States.

Leaking Like a Sieve? Transfer Restraints on Small Arms, Light Weapons and Ammunition

Abstract Compared to nuclear weapons, chemical and biological weapons or advanced conventional weapons systems, such as missiles, small arms and light weapons (SALW) and the ammunition required to render them lethal, have received less attention from arms control analysts. Accordingly the focus of this commentary is upon two particular inadequacies identified within the existing SALW restraint repertoire. They include, first, a failure to have SALW ammunition designated as an objective deserving explicit restraint designation and, secondly, persisting and largely unresolved state differences over controlling supplies of this weaponry to armed non-state actors. Both concerns illustrate how a use of consensus procedures within relevant rule formulation has favoured the interests of major SALW suppliers. The two deficiencies identified are considered destabilising given their continued capacity to degrade restraints designed to restrict deployments of this long-lasting weaponry—particularly within locations exhibiting limited forms of state capacity. The scope for existing legal mechanisms to remedy these deficiencies is examined, as is their potential to induce enhanced compliance and implementation.

Why China Has Not Caught Up Yet: Military-Technological Superiority and the Limits of Imitation, Reverse Engineering, and Cyber Espionage

Can countries easily imitate the United States' advanced weapon systems and thus erode its military-technological superiority? Scholarship in international relations theory generally assumes that rising states benefit from the “advantage of backwardness.” That is, by free riding on the research and technology of the most advanced countries, less developed states can allegedly close the military-technological gap with their rivals relatively easily and quickly. More recent works maintain that globalization, the emergence of dual-use components, and advances in communications have facilitated this process. This literature is built on shaky theoretical foundations, however, and its claims lack empirical support. In particular, it largely ignores one of the most important changes to have occurred in the realm of weapons development since the second industrial revolution: the exponential increase in the complexity of military technology. This increase in complexity has promoted a change in the system of production that has made the imitation and replication of the performance of state-of-the-art weapon systems harder—so much so as to offset the diffusing effects of globalization and advances in communications. An examination of the British-German naval rivalry (1890–1915) and China's efforts to imitate U.S. stealth fighters supports these findings.

A helikopterképesség fejlesztésének aktuális kérdései

2018-ban 36 darab könnyű és közepes helikopter beszerzéséről döntött Magyarország Kormánya. A helikopterek a kor legmodernebb színvonalát képviselik, a legmodernebb avionikai, felderítő és fegyverrendszerrel rendelkeznek. A helikopterek fogadásának, rendszerbe állításának számos feltétele van. Az új típusokhoz rendelt doktrinális háttér, a hadműveleti alkalmazhatóság, a harcászati eljárások modernizálása és az infrastrukturális feltételek megléte elengedhetetlenül fontos az üzemeltetés megkezdéséhez. Cikkem megírásával az volt a célom, hogy rávilágítsak az új helikoptertípusok rendszerbe állításának legfontosabb területeinek kérdéseire.